MAKErS project

The Interdisciplinary Thematic Institute (ITI) MAKErS analyzes the making of European society, looking both at how Europe makes a society and how this society makes itself European. To this end, this international center of excellence brings together specialists of the sciences of government (law, economics, political science, statistics) and of the sciences of society (sociology, demography, geography, history of science)

Over an eight-year period, MAKErS will develop an ambitious research program designed to bring about a renewal of the object and methods of European studies. An innovative training plan on these subjects will also be introduced for master’s students. The Institute also intends to produce knowledge and know-how that will prove useful to policy-makers.

The University of Strasbourg’s Interdisciplinary Thematic Institutes (ITI) aim at bringing teaching and research, faculties and research centers and students and researchers closer. They are attributed IDEX funding for 4 to 8 years over the 2021-2028 period.

For more information, visit the University of Strasbourg website

ITI MAKErS Presentation Video

Three key challenges

Promoting interdisciplinarity

MAKErS breathes new life into European studies by bringing together 126 human and social science researchers and lecturers from the University of Strasbourg in studying the social construction of Europe. Our members have a wide variety of disciplinary affiliations – law, economics, political science, sociology, demographics, history of science.  

Promoting the internationalization of research

To this day, research has been mainly rooted at the national level. The ambition of MAKErS is to denationalize our approaches. This will lead to a more comprehensive, in-depth understanding of the complex social dynamics addressed in our research.

Using big data

Quantitative data have become key research tools for human and social scientists, and challenged our conception and use of qualitative data in the process. MAKErS will use both type of data to examine the question of what makes European society, in which ways and with what effects. Ultimately, the program will offer resources, analyses and data on the making and the dynamic of European society.

Four research areas

Our interdisciplinary research program is divided into four areas, complete with a graduate program:

  • Area 1: How to conceive and measure European society: Key conceptual, methodological and epistemological challenges.
  • Area 2: Analysis of the complex challenges faced by European societies: Inequalities, mobilities, risks.
  • Area 3: The determiners of the construction of European society: Analysis of the actors, models and ideas that structure European society, especially through their circulation.
  • Areas 4: Regulations of European society: Analysis of the emergence of new forms of protest and conflict (social protests, conflicts of interest) and of their regulation (through legal and economic norms, democratic processes, public policies).

Graduate Program

ITI MAKErS offers a continuum of training from Master to PhD. Its transverse training programme involves 18 Masters courses and 3 doctoral schools.

In Master M1, the validation of the MAKErS module allows to obtain a diploma supplement.

MAKErS also brings support for student mobility.

More information in the dedicated tab

Project Coordination

Hélène Michel, Professor of Political Science, SAGE (UMR 7363), University of Strasbourg
Amélie-Barbier-Gauchard, Professor of Economics, BETA (UMR 7522), University of Strasbourg
Mélanie Schmitt, Professor of Labor Law, DRES (UMR 7354), University of Strasbourg

Manager : Isabelle ANGRAND